The Government Office of the Republic of Slovenia for Local Self-Government and Regional Policy (GOSP), headed by Minister Zlata Ploštajner, today organised a signing ceremony of the subsidy contracts approved within the 1. Call for proposals in the frame of the Operational Programme Slovenia-Hungary 2007–2013. The signing ceremony was attended by representatives of the Managing Authority, programme partners and representatives of lead or project partners. GOSP has been entrusted with the role of Managing Authority for the cross-border co-operation with Hungary for the period 2007–2013. This is an acknowledgement of its previous work, as well as a huge responsibility for effective implementation of the programme. In June 2008, GOSP issued the 1.Call for proposals for co-funding of projects from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the amount of EUR 14,000,000. Applications could be presented under two priorities. The first priority is Increase the attractiveness of the cooperation area (Development of joint tourist destination; Preservation and development of culture; Improvement of cross border traffic connections), while the second priority is Sustainable development (Regional development cooperation; Preventative health care; Environment protection and management; Efficient energy use). The co-financing applies to eligible expenditures only. The Community co-funding from the ERDF can amount to the maximum of 85% of the public funding. The eligible programme area includes Pomurje and Podravje regions in Slovenia, Vas and Zala counties in Hungary. Following the administrative compliance and eligibility check and quality assessment, the decision to approve the projects was adopted by the Joint Monitoring Committee of the Operational Programme Slovenia-Hungary 2007–2013 at its regular meeting held on 06 and 07 May 2009. The Joint Monitoring Committee is composed of representatives of the two participating countries. It conditionally approved a co-financing of 20 projects, 10 within the first priority and 10 within the second priority. All information concerning the programme is available on the programme’s website: www.si-hu.eu/si2.